28-year-old Scottie Lee Lewis, of Rockwell, NC, has just been charged with animal cruelty after a picture showing him walking a small puppy dragging a brick went viral on Facebook.
The picture shows Lewis walking across a convenience store parking lot just off Highway 52 with the struggling puppy and without a shirt on.
As the picture began to spread around social media, several people who recognized him called the Rockwell Animal Control and local police.
Rockwell County Animal Services said it wasn’t clear what was happening in the picture, but that sometimes bricks or weights are used to build muscles in dogs for dog shows or sometimes even dogfighting.
According to Rockwell Police, Lewis said he was “strength training” his dog so that he “would look muscular.”